Content

The European Digital Single Market

Press release

9.8.2017

In the July/August issue of Intereconomics, ten economists debate the achievements and shortcomings of the Digital Single Market strategy in our Forum. This issue's Letter from America looks at the battle over health care in the US, while the Editorial assesses the prospect that Macron's electoral victory will lead to a renewal of European momentum. Elsewhere, this issue's diverse range of articles cover national money creation in EMU countries, growth forecasts for China, European subsidiarity and a new perspective on business cycle synchronisation in the eurozone.

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​In 2015 the European Commission adopted the Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy, aiming to establish common European data protection rules, reform telecoms rules and modernise copyright rules, among other goals. The authors in this Forum, including Andrea Renda, J. Scott Marcus and Barbara Engels, review the progress made thus far, exploring regulatory responses to issues such as data privacy, online consumer protection, artificial intelligence and big data. What degree of harmonisation of rules in the 28 member states is necessary? Can small businesses take advantage of the potential benefits of big data, or are these benefits limited to large companies that can afford to invest in the proper analysis of the data? What lessons can the EU draw from experiences in other parts of the world? Perhaps most importantly, how can the DSM be optimised to support European innovation and economic growth.

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Daniel Gros assesses the renewed optimism in Europe following Emmanuel Macron's victory in the French presidential election. Does Macron's triumph signal the beginning of a period of European revival, or are the problems facing the EU too large and too numerous? Will there be a new era of Franco-German leadership? How important to the rest of the EU is the success of Macron's domestic reform programme?

After seven years of bitter Republican complaints about Obamacare, they finally had the opportunity to fulfil their promises to repeal and replace the law. This made their failure to do so all the more embarrassing. Jacob S. Hacker details what went wrong for Republicans and why their loss was America's gain. He also looks ahead to the next evolution of the American health care system.

The recent publication of the previously secret Agreement on Net Financial Assets (ANFA) directed the public's attention to the possibility that national central banks could create money through purchases of securities on their own account. Arne Hansenand Dirk Meyer provide an overview of the legal foundations for ANFA and explore the interests, risks and consequences for the euro area crisis countries and the currency union as a whole.

Quote of the Month

Rather than an innovation gap, the EU suffers from a diffusion gap, which is echoed in a number of widening divides: between cities and rural areas; between leading and lagging countries; between frontier, laggard, and even 'zombie' firms; between richer and poorer individuals; and between technology-savvy and less e-skilled end users and businesses.